Blue Dasher Farm

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Blue Dasher Farm (LLC) is the first of a national network of centers for excellence designed to provide the scientific and educational support for bottom-up transformation of our food production system using regenerative principles. Regenerative agriculture seeks to improve soil health and biodiversity on farms while producing nutrient dense foods profitably. This initiative is farmer-driven, and a steering committee of some of the top producers in the world help to direct the questions and practices that will be addressed. To accomplish these ambitious goals, the farm has three inter-related facets: research, education, and demonstration. Research (Conduct science that solves planetary scale problems using our food production systems) Ecdysis Foundation is a science and education non-profit that we hope will be considered the R&D department for the soil health movement in the U.S. In conjunction with other research entities, the Blue Dasher Farm will be an important research hub where ideas can be translated into practical products that support the diversification of agroecosystems. The overall goal of our research program tackles removing practical barriers to the development of regenerative food production systems. Central research themes are to 1) enhance biodiversity in agroecosystems, with a strong emphasis on pollinators, 2) diversify cropping systems in ways that increase plant diversity and system resilience, and 3) promote ecosystem services in rangeland. Education (Promote regenerative farming practices through curricula focused on farmers, the community, and the next generation of scientists) Communicating cutting edge ideas and science to the end user is a key mission of Ecdysis Foundation and the Blue Dasher Farm Initiative. Our education philosophy is to use systems-level thinking to challenge students to get outside of their comfort zones in ways that shape how they think and perceive the world around them. Key audiences for these workshops, field days, social media outlets, and publications will be farmers, young scientists, ranchers, and bee keepers at various stages along their journey toward regenerative agriculture. We will host week-long immersion workshops that pair leading producers with top scientists to explore focused themes in depth. Concepts like natural pest control, agroecology, and soil biology will be some of the first explored. Field days with focal themes will be another strategy to increase awareness of regenerative agriculture. Social media, blogs, newsletters, webinars and podcasts, and other media forms will be fully employed to get the message out about the future of food production. Finally, we will link Blue Dasher with other sustainable agriculture endeavors around the country to make sure that our education program is a part of change both locally, regionally, and on a policy level nationally. Demonstration Farm (Demonstrate the feasibility of current and novel food production practices on an operating farm to showcase the viability of regenerative agriculture) Seeing is believing. First and foremost, Blue Dasher Farm is an operating farm that integrates multiple revenue streams to produce a profitable operation using ecological principles. We merge honey production, crops for seed and consumption, and livestock into a single entity to show the importance of diversity in promoting farm resilience. Strong emphases will be on enhancing biodiversity, improving soil health, reducing disturbance, increasing the perenniality of the system, and making food more nutritious. In sum, these demonstration farms will be a showcase of how food can be produced while enhancing environmental quality and human health and happiness.